Daily devotion

Because He is the God of Hope

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May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Romans 15:13 ESV

Hope is often encouraged by sayings like, “Don’t give up on hope” or “There’s always hope!” But the truth is that if we are disconnected from God then the only hope available is a false hope and there are a million people out there willing to offer it to us at a price. But in the moment we surrender to Jesus – who is the God of hope – then no matter our present circumstance we find there is hope all around us. I was especially touched by this video from the prison ministry, God Behind Bars.” It gives me great hope seeing these hundreds of men who had lost all hope, finding amazing hope again in Jesus Christ. This made my day and I HOPE that it makes yours!

Trusting the Engineer

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Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 ESV

Worrying over our grandchildren’s relationship with Jesus has been a recurring theme for me lately. Now I can hardly believe that I first wrote that opening line two years ago. Things with our grandchildren have gotten easier with some and harder with others. Some days it feels as if our hearts are being pulling in opposite directions, and I need that peace that is waaaaay beyond anything I can understand sometimes! When they were small, everything seemed pretty simple. We took them to church; prayed with them and made sure they had plenty of cookies. But now they are older, some days it feels as if I am slogging through a mud bog trying to communicate even the basics of what it means to be a Christian. As I tossed and turned through another middle of the night worry the Holy Spirit tapped me on the shoulder and reminded me that I was not alone. I was forgetting that ultimately that job is His and that He loves them way more than I do. It is hard to trust God with people who are the closest to us. Yielding control over our spouse, a child a grandchild or a friend means letting God take over. Back in 2005 Carrie Underwood recorded a song called, “Jesus Take the Wheel!” and its message was exactly what we need in our most anxious moments. We need to let go of our grip so that God can steer. Jesus won’t just rip the steering wheel away. He will allow us as many nights as we wish to toss and turn. But when we are worn out with worry and fed up with fear God is waiting and even longing for us to trust that He knows how to fix things better than we do. Only He has the strength to carry our worries and has promised a peace that stretches from our anxious hour all the way to heaven!

When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer!  - Corrie Ten Boom
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Fresh Daily Bread

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Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6:11 KJV

On cold Winter mornings when it was too dark to go to our job site, it was the perfect time to stop at Abe’s Bakery. Pushing open its doors unleashed the fragrance of fresh baked hard rolls mingled with the aroma of coffee. We quickly ordered, poured our coffee and headed out to the truck. There we hungrily devoured those rolls with butter still dripping from their edges, feeling richer than anyone else on earth. Abe’s fresh baked rolls, always remind me of the daily bread that Jesus taught us to pray for.

First, just as at Abe’s it pays to show up early to get the freshest rolls. If we just dive into our morning and then sometime later ask God for help, He still gives it but when we eagerly push open His door early, He treats us to the aroma of daily bread straight from Heaven’s oven! Secondly, no one on earth can give us anything better than what God has provided, so we should be thankful. Wishing we had what others have, only takes away the joy of receiving exactly what God has prepared. Lastly, just as we never worried if Abe would be making fresh rolls the next morning, Jesus wants us to know that when we pray that we can trust Him to give us His daily bread, new every morning and fresh every day!